2009 Baseball Hall of Fame Class Announced

Rickey Henderson sped his way into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot Monday, and Jim Rice made it in on his 15th and final try.

Henderson, baseball's career leader in runs scored and stolenbases, received 94.8 percent of the vote from the Baseball Writers'Association of America, well above the 75 percent needed.

Rice, among baseball's most feared hitters in the late 1970s andearly 1980s, got 76.4 percent of the vote after falling just shywith 72.2 percent last year.

"The only thing I can say is I'm glad it's over with," Ricesaid. "I'm in there and they can't take it away."

The undisputed standard for leadoff hitters, Henderson becamethe 44th player elected in his first year of eligibility. Rice wasonly the third elected by the BBWAA in his final year, joining RedRuffing (1967) and Ralph Kiner (1975).

The pair will be inducted into the Hall during ceremonies onJuly 26 in Cooperstown, N.Y. They will be joined by former Yankeesand Indians second baseman Joe Gordon, elected posthumously lastmonth by the Veterans Committee.

"I feel great about it. It's been a long time coming," saidHenderson, who wanted to be a football star before excelling in probaseball. "I was nervous, waiting."

Henderson spoke on a conference call before boarding a flight toNew York. He was rushing right along, even on this day.

Only fitting.

Next up, his highly anticipated induction speech. Henderson hasalways had a unique way with words.

"It's really just an honor to me. I'm really just spaced out,"he said. "I haven't really thought about what I'm going to say."

Rice knows exactly how he'll approach his speech.

"Believe me, it's going to be short and quick. I don't thinkyou need to go there and talk for 15 or 20 minutes when you can getright to the point," he said. "I'm going to leave all the storiesto Rickey."

Henderson was picked on 511 of 539 ballots and Rice was selectedon 412, just above the 405 needed.

Rice received only 29.8 percent of the vote in 1995, when heappeared on the ballot for the first time. He initially topped 50percent in 2000 and reached 64.8 percent in 2006 - the highestpercentage for a player who wasn't elected in a later year was 63.4by Gil Hodges in 1983, his final time on the ballot.

Some thought Rice's prickly personality and curt relationshipwith reporters during his playing career helped keep him out of theHall all these years.

"I don't think I was difficult to deal with for writers. Ithink the writers were difficult to me," he said. "I wasn't goingto badmouth my teammates. When you start talking about my teammatesor what goes on outside baseball, I couldn't do that.

"I don't know why it took me so long. I don't even want tothink about it," he added. "I'm just happy I'm in and that's whatI'm going to cherish."

What did he learn all these years?

"Be patient and wait to the last out," Rice said. "I guesseverything was just timing, because my numbers have not changedover the last 14 years."

Andre Dawson fell 44 votes short with 67 percent. He wasfollowed by Bert Blyleven (62.7 percent), Lee Smith (44.5), JackMorris (44.0), Tommy John (31.7) and Tim Raines (22.6). Johnappeared on the ballot for the final time.

Mark McGwire, stigmatized by accusations he usedperformance-enhancing drugs, received 118 votes (21.9 percent) inhis third year of eligibility, down from the 128 votes he got ineach of his first two tries.

Henderson, who played with McGwire in Oakland, said the sluggerwas one of the best people he's ever been around.

"He played the game the right way to me," Henderson said. "Ifeel he deserves to be in the Hall of Fame."

Henderson, the 1990 AL MVP, was a 10-time All-Star who swiped1,406 bases, one shy of 50 percent more than Lou Brock, who is insecond place with 938. Henderson batted .279 with 297 homers, 1,115RBIs, 2,190 walks and 2,295 runs. He owns the modern-day seasonrecord with 130 steals in 1982, and the career mark with 81 leadoffhomers. He played 25 seasons for Oakland, the Yankees, Toronto, SanDiego, Anaheim, the Mets, Seattle, Boston and the Dodgers.

Henderson was with his family when he got the call Monday andpointed out that they have been with him through "all the gloryand the headaches."

"They enjoyed it probably as much as I enjoyed it, probablyeven more," he said.

Rice, the 1978 AL MVP, was an eight-time All-Star who hit 382home runs in 16 seasons with the Boston Red Sox from 1974-89. Hehad a .298 career batting average and 1,451 RBIs, and from 1977-79averaged .320 with 41 homers and 128 RBIs.

He becomes the fourth Hall of Famer to have spent his entirecareer with the Red Sox, joining fellow left fielders Ted Williamsand Carl Yastrzemski, along with second baseman Bobby Doerr.

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